memories of the past
by hana rika
Summary: As a mysterious girl called Kasumi comes to Lory Pleading for help, Kyoko get a new job offer. Will she be able to live up to the challanges thrown at her? And Who exactly IS this Kasumi?


OK so I have a LOT of apolagies to make, i know i said this was going to go on hiatus but really it took me way too long to get to starting again. Anyway, this is the new prologue for the new Memories of the past. If you read the one how it used to be, try not to cling to what you know from that story to much, this one is rather different. uhm so enjoy reading and let me know what you think. (if the majority of the people thing it wat better as it was, i'll change it back, but i personally think it's better as it is now)

I do NOT own skip beat!

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**Prologue**

It had been a calm day so far for Takarada Lory, he had a few meetings in the morning but his afternoon was free, which gave him the chance to spy on his favourite couple, while they were playing siblings, yes you know who I am talking about. Then you must also be able to understand why our dear friend Lory was a little annoyed when his phone ringed. It turned out to be his secretary, telling him there was a lady in his office who refused to leave before she had spoken to him. After verifying who the girl was Lory let out a sigh, something really rare for him to do, and told Sebastian to return to his office. That was the moment Lory knew his calm day was over and he braced himself for what even he would consider to be a 'difficult' conversation.

The young lady in question was in fact at that very moment leaning casually against the desk of the eccentric man she was about to meet.

"I wonder what costume fits with the way the office looks today." she whispered to herself. She trailed her long musicians' fingers along the ancient wooden desk. "Probably something medieval by the looks of it. Some king...from some big European nation. Yup, that probably right." As the girl relaxed again, expectantly looking at the door to see if her estimations where right. It surprised her however, to see that the eccentric man was dressed as biker. Without his usual group of dancers. He only had Sebastian with him, and even he waited outside the door. "Now how does that outfit fit with the rest of this place?" She boldly asked in a way of greeting him. He looked her in the eye for a few seconds, as if to judge how she was doing, and then decided to act grumpy even if he knew she wouldn't fall for it.

"tch...If you had seen me before you so rudely interrupted my fun time, you would have said this outfit works perfectly with my surroundings." He pouted to give some extra effect and soon found the young lady laughing out loud. Lory stopped his act and started walking to his closet. "Well if you were you determined to speak to me, I doubt that you will mind waiting just a little longer, Kasumi." At this Kasumi's laughter turned into a small giggle and she nodded.

By the time he returned Kasumi had to hide a triumphant smile. For Lory had changed into a medieval French king outfit. She decided to tease a little: "Are you sure about that one Boss? I think I've seen it before..." She pretended to think hard about it while Lory went back to pouting. "You know that isn't possible Kasumi, now I doubt you called me back here just for all this fun and games, why did you come to me?" Lory had suddenly turned serious. And Kasumi did the same.

"Actually Lory, I need your help with something" Kasumi paused and looked Lory straight in the eye. "Related to busyness." Lory raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you go to your own agency for that Kasumi? Don't misunderstand, I care about you, and if it were something personal I wouldn't have doubted a second about doing anything for you. But surely on a professional issue, Akatoki should be more than capable of helping you." That hit the spot and Kasumi's eyes showed her irritation at her problem. "That is exactly the point, they are my agency, I have a contract with them through my Hollywood agency and they should do anything legally in their power to help me advance my career. But when is the last time you heard a new song from me Lory?" she looked him in the eye and knew the answer right away: not since she had come back into the busyness. Even if she was one of the more famous models in Japan, and also had quite the list of movies and drama's to her name. The thing she was originally most famous for, her music, had been out of the spotlight for a long time.

Lory frowned. "But I thought you didn't want to sing anymore..." He said. And Kasumi's frustration seemed to grow. "No, one of the few reasons I left Evans Inc. was because I missed singing too much. I came to Japan to start over. But Akatoki is afraid I might actually be threat to their precious Fuwa Shou" She said the name with disgust. "That self-centred brat wouldn't even recognize true talent in anyone other than him if it was two inches from his nose." Kasumi fumed. "Not that he isn't talented, of course he's talented, but it's not like he should be the only one out there right? A little competition would even be good for him. But Akatoki is afraid I might push him off first place, and he won't get world record for longest string of number one hits" Kasumi went on raging like this and Lory listened with a sympathetic look on his face. When she was finally done he asked the only question he could ask at that moment. "But Kasumi, what do you expect me to do about it?" It seemed Kasumi had forgotten he was there before, because now, she jerked a little and then looked at him with a little shock in her eyes.

"I want to sign with LME of course" Lory knew this was coming, and he also knew it was not possible. And he was about to tell her when she continued. "But you and I both know that is impossible. So I am thinking about starting my own agency, and I need to know what you think my chances are in breaking my contract with Akatoki and eventually Evans Inc." at this Lory went silent for a little while. Kasumi looked at him expectantly but she was patient and let him think. For Kasumi was no fool, she knew Lory was a genius and in cases like these she always depended on him rather than the president of Akatoki. Finally Lory seemed to have formulated an answer: "I think you need to act very carefully if you want to accomplish this. It will take a long time, but it is possible. Breaking with Akatoki isn't that hard. Just do something they don't like, and they will fire you without a second thought. Your contract with Akatoki isn't all that special, and you can even disband it yourself if you want it. The real problem lies in Evans, he won't like to let you roam free. He wants to keep control on you as much as he can." Kasumi sighed at this.

It was exactly what she had thought herself. "Evans will never let you contract with us, he hates me for what I've done." at this Kasumi looked a little ashamed. "I'm sorry Lory, for depending on you like this. If only I had never signed that stupid contra.." Lory cut her off. "It was never your fault Kasumi. The adults around you should have paid better attention. Now we have been able to erase the worst parts of that contract so it shouldn't be much of a problem. And with the new evidence we found last month we can make him transfer you Akatoki contract to LME." Kasumi jerked her head up. "But you just said that was impossible!" Lory interrupted. "Yes I did. But that was before we found the new evidence and the problem isn't so much the contract, as avoiding him right?" Kasumi evaded Lory's prying eyes as she got a sad look in her eyes. "I think it's time to stop running Boss." Were her only words. Lory observed her for a few more seconds before he made his decision. "Very well Takinaga Kasumi, formerly known as Kaitlynn Falls. I, Takarada Lory, hereby swear I will do anything in my power to get that contract away from you. Other than that I will do nothing to help your comeback. Understand?" Kasumi enthusiastically confirmed, bowed and turned to leave. When she was at the door she turned one more time. "O I forgot to tell you but, I recently had a lot of contact with them, and the other members of ORPHAN agreed to do a memorial concert in July, I thought you would like to know." After that she closed the door behind her and left the building. Lory was left to stare at the door.

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**A few weeks later**

"Tsuruuugaaaaa-sssaaaannnnn!" Tsuruga Ren turns around to see his object of affection running toward him. He can't help a small smile as she hold two bento's out to him. He was going to say hello to her, but she wouldn't let him. "I just saw the real Setsu!" she said enthusiastically. Ren looks surprised at what she said and was about to ask what she meant, but she continued without him needing to ask her. "She walks like Setsu would, talks like Setsu would and she even dresses as Setsu would!" Ren smiles at Kyoko. And starts walking to bench where they usually had their bento's when working together. "And where did you find this lady?" he asks her. Kyoko looks up at him like he couldn't have asked a better question. "At the recording studio. I was doing voice over's for Natsu and she took the booth next to me! And her name is Takinaga Kasumi!"

At this the temperature dropped a few degrees and Ren suddenly stopped walking, staring ahead as if he saw a whole other world. After a few steps Kyoko realised her sempai was no longer next to her and she looked back. Only to see Ren was quickly going catatonic once again. Luckily this time Kyoko was quick enough and she only needed to wave her hand in front of his face a few time to get him out of his current state of mind. Slowly he looked at Kyoko and his eyes slowly seemed to focus again. "Takinaga-san? I can see why you would say that, although usually people force her to wear more conservative clothes in order to keep her sweet image up to the public." Surprise was written all over Kyoko's face as she looked up at Ren. "You know her? Tsuruga-san?" That's when Ren realised he had made a mistake. He searched his brain for a quick excuse that would satisfy Kyoko for now. "ah..." He dragged on as his brain was still doing overtime trying to come up with something solid...

Light bulb flicks on... "Yes, we took quite a few modelling jobs together, she models, sings and acts. Although she is different in public then she is in person. Like many other people in showbiz." Kyoko nodded at this, thinking of how nice Ren was in public, and how scary he could be in private. And Shou, who was trying so hard to keep his cool guy image up so hard, while watching variety show while lying on the...'baka Shou' Kyoko thought, 'Why does he have to show up in my thoughts again?' Kyoko started furiously shaking her head as to throw the offending thoughts course Ren noticed this. "Mogami-san?" Kyoko was shocked out of her thoughts. "Yes, Tsuruga-san?" she said sheepishly. "What are you doing?"

…..

"uhhhh….Nothing, nothing, don't mind me." Kyoko said. Ren looked at her as if to say. 'Are you sure?' But Kyoko had already skipped on to the bench. "Now come one Tsuruga-san, don't think you can get out of eating lunch because I got distracted." Ren heaved a sigh as Kyoko smiled at him evilly. They ate in relative silence, the only interaction they had being Kyoko sending Ren evil glares when he slowed his eating pace. When Ren was almost done Kyoko suddenly started shaking. Ren being used to this happening be now kept eating only saying "Your phone is ringing." between bites. As Kyoko looked for her Phone Ren let himself ponder on de coincidence that Kyoko had run into Kasumi. To be honest, Ren was surprised it hadn't happened sooner. Kasumi was well known in Japan, she acted in quite a lot dramas and movies since moving to Japan. Ren himself had done his best to avoid her. She was a risk he wasn't willing to take.

Meanwhile Kyoko had finally managed to locate her phone and answered it in a hurry. "Hello?" "Hello Mogami-san, this is Sawara Takenori speaking. Do you have time?" Kyoko glanced at her watch. "Hello Sawara-san. Yes I have 10 minutes left for my lunch break." Ren took her bento and gestured he would meet her back at the set to give her some privacy while discussing work. "I have a new offer for a movie for you." A smile crept onto Kyoko's face as she started to answer before she got interrupted by Sawara. "Before you get to excited I need to tell you something. This is, without a doubt, an antagonist role, the character might be considered evil even." At this Kyoko deflated. "But those parts of the character aren't revealed until well into the movie, before that your character is a sweet, pure, honest young lady. So it is actually a really good chance to show people you can do sweet and innocent as well." Kyoko practically burst with joy now but she forced herself to stay calm. "Is it compatible with my other current jobs?" She meant her Love Me work with Tsuruga-san, although Sawara-san didn't know about that he did know when she had to do it. "It is, if you decide to take it filming starts in one month so decide quickly. Personally I advise you to take it." Kyoko allowed her surprise to fill her voice. "So soon?" Sawara confirmed. "The actress who was originally asked to play this role got into an accident, she probably won't be able to see ever again." Kyoko nodded in understanding, forgetting Sawara couldn't see her. "Do you think I can see the script before I decide?" She asked. "Of course you can, it's on my desk right now, come pick it up the next time you are at the office." Kyoko smiled. "I will, thank you Sawara-san." Sawara then gave her some other details she needed to know and the main storyline of the movie.

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**A few minutes later**

"Tsuruuugaaaaa-sssaaaannnnn!" Ren has a certain feeling of déjà vu as he turns to see Kyoko running towards him for the second time this day. "How was the phone call? Was it important?" He asked when she stopped in front of him to catch her breath. "I got a new job offer!" She was practically skipping with joy. "Judging from you behavior I am going to assume it's a good one." Ren smiled at her energy. "Very! They asked me to play the main antagonist in a movie!" "I thought you didn't want to play antagonists anymore?" Kyoko's energy diminished slightly at this. "Yes but the character is actually more of a victim than anything else." She explained. When Ren raised his eyebrows to indicate he didn't get it she continued. "The movie is about an angel of death who has been charged with filtering a corrupt village. The angel sets out to a village posing as hiker who lost consciousness in the forest. My character finds the angel first and takes care of him. She comes to really admire him and when the villagers start to suspect the angel of killing all people that are dying, she tries to protect the angel from being hurt, ultimately corrupting her soul and making her one of the ones who needs to be erased." Ren looked more understanding now. "But does that mean you will have to act out love?" Kyoko stopped in her tracks. She slowly turned around. "I…..I don't think it's that kind of admiration Tsuruga-san." Ren saw she was more telling herself that than him so he let it drop. "I think it's time to get back to the set."

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**Somewhere else, the day before.**

"Then I hereby declare both the contract between Miss Takinaga and Evans Inc. and the contract between Miss Takinaga and Akatoki industries to be null and void." A man in his late twenties stood up in outrage. "You cannot do this, our contract with Miss Takinaga is perfectly fair and legal!" Kasumi cringed as the voice of the speaker reached her ears. She really hated this man. Luckily the judge didn't seem to like him much either. "Mr Evans if you do not sit down and respect this court I will have you removed." The man did not seem very impressed with the threat. "That girl belongs to my company! She cannot leave us until the time the contract says!" The judge looked at him with a deadly stare before composing herself into a more neutral expression. "Need I remind you Mr Evans that slavery is no longer allowed in this Nation? Also the way your contract was written made you her owner, not your company. You are lucky there are no heavier consequences for you than what I am about to give you." This did seem to get to Mr Evans, whom sat back down at the defendant's chair. "Now as I was saying, I hereby declare both the contract between Miss Takinaga and Evans Inc. and the contract between Miss Takinaga and Akatoki industries to be null and void. Also Mr Evans and Evans Inc. will be required to pay back any and all money they unrightfully confiscated from Miss Takinaga. In addition to this Evans Inc. will pay Miss Takinaga back all the royalties she should have received since this contract was made."

Again Mr Evans stood up. "This is an outrage, I will not pay a single penny to that wench." Kasumi cringed again as she remembered just why she had to get out of this so desperately. "You will pay her every penny because the court says so." Answered the judge calmly. "Now sit down this is the last time I warn you." Mr Evans wasn't planning on sitting down however. "I will not sit down! I will say what I have to say, that dumb bitch had it coming, she was the one stupid enough to believe I was in it to help her! I own her now! I own her and everything she has and" "Guards take this man away." The guards came to the front of the room and restrained Mr Evans. In response he became even more enraged. While he was struggling to free himself he looked Kasumi straight in the eye. "Just you wait, little bitch, I will have you and when I do, you are going to wish you had just done as told and let me have my way. Wait and see. I'll ruin your life until you come to me begging to take you back!" With that he started laughing maniacally and the doors shut behind him. His tirade left Kasumi shaking on her seat. That is until she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She looked up into the owners' kind blue eyes as she felt tears of relief pools up because it was finally over. "You did well today Kasumi, it was very brave of you to come to America today to testify." Kasumi smiled and wiped the tears that had flooded over. Yes, she was finally free, tomorrow she would be back in Japan signing a contract with LME and step into a recording booth for the first time since this all started. As she got ready to leave the courtroom she looked back at the person who had taken the time to go to court with her, a woman who had supported her countless times before. "Thanks for coming along and supporting me today Julie."

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So, i hope you enjoyed this, would love to hear what you think.


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